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Left out of this was a hostages telling of a small group of flunkies that "didn't need to know the mission" protesting after it began. The leader of the protest was shot, and two women that were in that group had their belts detonated by remote control.

2004-09-07 15:00

INVESTIGATION OF THE BESLAN TERRORIST ATTACK


MOSCOW, September 7 (RIA Novosti) - The investigation has established
what provoked the end of the tragic events in Beslan. According to
the operational staff, the first explosion, which provoked the flight
of the hostages, the terrorist shooting and the storming of the
school, was unintentional: the line of one of the tripwire grenades
simply broke and a grenade detonated.

Improvised mines, the so-called cups, which are widely used by
Chechen terrorists, were set up at the entrance to the gym. A "cup"
is the lower half of a champagne bottle into which an unpinned
grenade is placed. The "cups" are usually camouflaged and the thin
line linked to it is stretched across the potential path of the
victim. When the victim trips over the line, the "cup" turns over,
the grenade tumbles out and explodes.

The terrorists placed such improvised bombs in the gym and at the
entrance to the school. Officers in the special operation say sticky
tape had been used for the line. According to the official version,
when the four members of the Emergencies Ministry entered the yard to
pick up the bodies of hostages killed by the terrorists, one of
the "cups" hanging by the door fell down, most probably because of
heat, and exploded. As it was a tense moment for the terrorists, one
of the women suicide bombers lost her nerve and blew herself up. The
explosions provoked sporadic firing on both sides, and detonated the
explosives in the lorry and bombs in the gym. Hostages ran out of the
building, followed by the terrorists. In this situation, the spetsnaz
began storming the school.




"Victims. Aren't we all?"

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